Deal
by defyingnormalcy
Summary: Sharon makes yet another deal with Rusty. Harmless domestic fun.


Sharon settled into her place on the sofa with a cup of hot, freshly brewed, chai tea. Next to her, on the single sofa Rusty was typing away on his laptop and frowning ever so often. Sitting together in front of the television after dinner had become a tradition of sorts for them lately; Sharon loved it.

"Lot of homework tonight?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Oh, um, not really," Rusty responded without looking up from his screen.

Sharon regarded him with a curious tilt of her head.

A few more minutes went by before Rusty looked up from his screen, huffing. "What's like a good word for dedicated, but that isn't dedicated? I've already used that once."

"In what context are you using the word?" Sharon asked.

"Like, dedicated to the task at hand?"

"How about focused?" Sharon suggested.

"Yeah. Yeah that's good. Perfect. Thanks Sharon."

Sharon took a sip of her tea and watched him amusedly for a while. "Are you going to tell me what you're up to?" she teased.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. I'm writing a resume. There's not much on there now, I mean, there's not much that I can put on there in terms of legal work. But Lt. Provenza said that he'd be my reference. He said that we could use my stint with your division and reword it as 'volunteer work' with the LAPD," he explained.

Sharon tilted her head sadly then smiled at him. "That's excellent that you're working on a resume. Would you like me to proof read it?" she offered. She'd have to remind herself to thank Lt. Provenza tomorrow for offering to be a reference for Rusty.

"That would be great, thanks," he said enthusiastically as he handed her the computer.

She placed her cup down on the coffee table and took the laptop from Rusty.

"Very impressive," she complimented.

Rusty grinned. "Thanks. I downloaded a template online and just sort of used that as my guide."

"Are you looking for a part time job?" she asked as she handed the laptop back to him.

"Yeah. Well, I mean I'd like something more fulltime for the summer. But also I'd like something with flexible hours for when I go back to school in September. So I was thinking that like a store in the mall might be good." Rusty closed the lid of his laptop and put it on the coffee table so he could give Sharon his full attention.

"May I ask what inspired this interest in finding a job?"

"I was thinking about what you said about college last year. I know that I said that people like me don't go to college. But, the truth is, I really do want to go to college. And I know that it's not likely that I could get into some fancy school, but maybe I could get a general degree or something?" he explained.

"Oh honey, I have no doubt that you could get into absolutely any program if you put your mind to it," Sharon said, "But, I don't want you to worry about getting a job to pay for college." At Rusty's frown she elaborated, "I put both of my children through their degrees and I will do the same for you."

"No, Sharon, that's not fai-"

"It's perfectly fair, actually. What I do for one child, I do for the other. And, the other."

Rusty sighed. "Okay, look, I appreciate everything that you've done for me. But you've already done a lot Sharon, too much almost. I need to do this, for myself."

Sharon scooted over on the sofa to sit closer to Rusty. "Rusty, remember how we had a discussion a while back about how certain things would forever be non-negotiable between us? This would be one of those topics."

"Yeah, but Sharon, I can't ask you to do that for me," he insisted.

"And you don't have to. I am _telling _you that should you decide to go to college, and that is a decision that I will very much insist on you making, I will take care of the costs."

"But-"

"Ah. No buts. I'm sorry Rusty, but like I said-"

"No arguments. Right," Rusty said, smirking. "Just out of curiosity, do I ever get to win an argument with you? Like, ever?"

Sharon grinned in response.

"Okay, let me rephrase that, have you ever even let your own kids ever win an argument with you?"

Sharon chuckled. "You can certainly ask them the next time that they come by."

"Right," Rusty said, "No beating Captain Raydor and her rules?"

Sharon winked at him. "You better believe it."

Rusty regarded her for a moment before abruptly relocating next to her on the larger sofa and embracing her. Sharon welcomed his embrace, and kissed the side of his head.

"Thank you," he mumbled into her shoulder.

"Oh honey, you don't have to thank me. I told you, what I do for one child, I do for the others." As they separated Sharon smoothed down Rusty's hair.

"I'm really lucky to have you Sharon," he mumbled.

Sharon kissed his forehead. "I'm just as lucky to have you, " she said. "You are, without a doubt, the best thing to come into my life in a long time."

"You must have had a really boring life," he deadpanned.

Sharon poked his arm. "Hey now," she warned.

"Alright, alright, I'm sure the operas and museums before my emergency care situation were so interesting," he said with his hands up in mock-surrender.

"A little bit of culture goes a long way. One day I will convince you to come with me to an opera and you won't regret it," she promised. She crossed her arms and glared at him half-heartedly over the top of her lenses.

"Yeah, okay. And one day I'll convince you to play a video game with me," he snickered.

"Well, perhaps one day we can convince one another?" she proposed. "Though good luck, because Ricky is twenty-four and he's yet to succeed with that."

Rusty scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm disappointed in you Captain. No taste or appreciation for the finer things in life," he muttered as he opened his laptop again.

Sharon picked up her teacup once again and smirked. "I'm sure," she murmured, giggling as she said so.


End file.
